Dhirsh

Since there are so many experts on here talking about their cousins, friends brother’s experience with blowing up a “Fill in the blank” outboard motor, I thought it would be interesting to hear from those that actually owned an outboard or three that they personally blew up. No friends, no family...Just a motor you owned personally. And when I say blew up, I mean seized pistons or hole in the block blew up. Year, Make and model and why. I’ll start:
1998 Evinrude FICHT. Have no idea why but I fried it.

Dhirsh

Sorry forgot HP. 150

villas

1994 Yamaha salt water series 1 200 HP... twice. Rebuilt it after it blew up the first time because of a clogged oil line.. ran it for 35 hours ans blew it again! This time it jumped out of the water when the piston seized.

LISteiger

Only one a 1985 Evinrude 150, VRO failed.

Broom

1999 merc 200 carb (twins)

went through 3 powerheads in 6 months all rods through blocks.

newbedfish

Not a relevant answer. But one I can't blow up is a 1992 150 johnson with over 4500 hours !!

Reel1Fishing

2000 Yamaha OX66 250HP. Haven’t opened it up to figure out why it failed but had oil, so ruling that out. Im guessing It had to do with O2 Sensor.

Pettee

F150 yamaha. Luckily that's it.

Cable Mariner

1985 OMC Seadrive 115HP Had a ring stick in a port and snap. Was able to rebuild but ended up replacing the crankshaft as well because of a tech (or previous owner) who forgot to put an o-ring at the top of the driveshaft. Probably when replacing the water pump before I bought it. The spines were pretty well wasted away. I wasn't going to rebuild it like that.

On an interesting related story when I was in college and working at a marina. The in house mechanic saved someones 40 HP Evinrude by cutting off the splines and welding a socket to the bottom of the crank to engage the drive shaft. It was some very ingenuous jury rigging. His intention was to get the owner 1 more season out his motor. No idea how long it lasted. The mechanic was a talented guy who eventually opened his own shop and became a Tohatsu dealer. I watched/helped him do some crazy stuff. Stuff that I would never have thought of trying.

FISHPT

Mercury 175 EFI flywheel sheared right off

wangotango321

Ox 66 2000 and a 2002 mer efi with 12 hours. Oh and a 2001 optimax

2rodsdeep

2004 Opimax 150. Twins. Port motor gave up the Ghost at 225 hours due to bad injector. Power head replaced under warranty. Starboard motor did the same thing while breaking in the new power head on the port motor. Got it fixed and traded in a pair of Yamaha F150’s. That was 3,200 hours ago....Yamaha’s are still going strong.

weatherman

1996 Evinrude 175 hp OceanPro; VRO failed in 2000. Melted two pistons and destroyed block. Repowered with 175 hours Ficht.
2003 Honda 225, port engine of twins with about 1000 hours Stumbled on the way in from an offshore trip in 2015, puked emulsion of oil and water down the leg.. Autopsy showed internal corrosion led to catastrophic failure of left side of block and head. Sold starboard engine, parted out port engine, repowered with Suzuki 250s.

I have owned 25 outboards, and these are the only 2 that failed in spectacular fashion.

Flying_Norseman

1993 OMC V8 300. Had Monty rebuild all three of them and it took us 6 donors to get the right parts. Sold two and is redoing the last one for a cool little hot rod project.

Terry Sunstone

2005 Yamaha 200 hpdi.

Dan Halen

Johnson 250 looper, #1 cylinder. 2 mile west of skyway. 3 hour tow to Ruskin. Rebuilt powerhead, ran 300 more hours, replaced with 250G2, very happy with G2

Nomans

2000 Yamaha Saltwater Series II 250 that blew a hole in a piston at 20 hours. Came from the factory with a bad oil pump.

Also had a 4 hp 1982 Johnson dinghy motor that sent about 1/3rd of the engine flying when I pulled the starter cord. What a piece of crap that was. I think it ran about 20% of the time.

Team Seaside

In 50 years, None

evernic

Between my dad and me 25 outboards

buccaneer, Johnson, evinrude , Scott atwater
West bend , martin , Elgin , Chrysler and mostly mercury, zero engine failure 😊

Fingers_Crossed

1993 Johnson 88SPL. Threw a rod around 2008, a couple years into my ownership. I was inexperienced and lazy and didn't take care of it - didn't treat the fuel, let it sit, didn't property winterize. I knew it wasn't running right, about half power, but I kept running it for a few days anyway. Was messing with it on the muffs in the driveway after a ride, revved it up and it went pop. Put a hole in the block. Surely a blocked carb that starved the cylinder of lubrication.

Looking back, it's amazing that it ever ran at all the way I treated it.